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ON STAGE AND OFF

By Jesse McKinley

Published: March 21, 2003

Broadway's attention, like everyone's, was on the Middle East this week. The question was simple: how does war with Iraq affect an industry where escapism is the currency of the realm?

The board of the League of American Theaters and Producers met on Wednesday to brief members on security, and company managers for each production were expected to pass on the information to their casts.

The reactions seemed muted. Even as commuters face heightened security at river crossings and on city streets, theater owners were mum about what measures were being taken beyond those daunting bag checks. The attitude on Broadway seemed to be to wait and see.

''This is not about us,'' said Jed Bernstein, president of the league. ''We're doing what we do. The lights of Broadway are going to stay lit.''

On the business side, however, some producers were fretting that a long war would scare off audiences at the height of the season. Between Thursday, when ''Urban Cowboy'' opens, and May 7, the Tony deadline, 13 productions are scheduled, not to mention dozens of shows Off and Off Off Broadway. The last time the nation went to war in the Persian Gulf, in January 1991, sales fell sharply after hostilities began, but recovered after two weeks.

Yet many factors are different this time, most prominently the heightened fear of terrorist strikes. It is that anxiety, said several insiders, that is the scariest.

''Nobody is excited about anything,'' said one industry professional. ''The wind is out of the sails in terms of a big spring opening. There is a real apathy because people are distracted by the other things.''

The war also comes only a week after the musicians' strike, which shut down Broadway musicals for four days, and resulted in weaker sales for many shows. In addition, the industry's advance sales, which are critical to shows' long-term marketing plans, have never fully recovered from Sept. 11, 2001.

Gerald Schoenfeld, chairman of the Shubert Organization, which owns 16 Broadway theaters, said that the strike and the war had depressed daily sales figures. But he held out hope that the industry, which was relatively undaunted by last month's security alerts, would soldier through.

''Sept. 11 caused havoc, but there was a considerable rebound,'' Mr. Schoenfeld said, sounding cautious. ''Now we've had two situations, the strike and the current hostilities overseas.''

What everyone agrees on is that a long conflict will hurt an industry that is already dealing with a weak city economy and a decline in tourism.

Nine commercial Broadway shows have closed this year as a result of a tough winter and sluggish sales; yesterday ''Ma Rainey's Black Bottom'' joined the list when its producers announced that it would close on April 6.

Rocco Landesman, president of the Jujamcyn chain, which owns five Broadway theaters, said everybody was banking on a quick solution. ''The hope is that the war will be as short as the strike,'' Mr. Landesman said. ''But that may be just wishful thinking.''

From TV to Theater

Few entertainers have been more vocal, for better or worse, on United States foreign policy than Bill Maher, the former host of ''Politically Incorrect'' on ABC who lost that job after he made remarks deemed insensitive after Sept. 11, 2001.

Mr. Maher has staged a comeback in recent weeks with a new HBO show, ''Real Time With Bill Maher,'' and plans to bring his act to New York. Beginning on April 29, Mr. Maher will be at the Virginia Theater on Broadway with ''Victory Begins at Home,'' his one-man riff on all things political.

He toured with the show last fall, when it included a long section about war fears regarding Iraq, a portion that Mr. Maher says will have to be updated. ''That was apropos in November,'' he said this week. ''Now it's a moot point.''

New at Williamstown

And now for something completely different: theater in a peaceful, bucolic place. The Williamstown Theater Festival, the annual summertime retreat in Williamstown, Mass., has announced its schedule for the 2003 season, including a revival of Brecht's mordant masterpiece, ''The Threepenny Opera,'' which looks all the world like a pre-Broadway tryout. The production will star Jesse L. Martin as Mack the Knife; Betty Buckley as his bitter old flame, Pirate Jenny; and Melissa Errico as Mack's spirited bride, Polly Peacham.

Also on tap at Williamstown are four main-stage revivals: John Guare's ''Landscape of the Body,'' Tom Stoppard's ''Travesties,'' ''An Enemy of the People'' by Ibsen and ''Under Milk Wood'' by Dylan Thomas. New plays by A. R. Gurney and Frank D. Gilroy will also be staged.

Along the Way

*The Upright Citizens Brigade, the respected alternative troupe, has found a new home. The company, which runs one of the largest comedy acting training programs in the country and is host to dozens of comedy shows, lost its Manhattan theater on West 22nd Street in November after the city found a zoning violation. Now the company is planning to reopen at a larger space at 307 West 26th Street, formerly the Maverick Theater.

*There is also a supporting cast for ''Master Harold . . . and the Boys,'' the Roundabout Theater Company's revival of Athol Fugard's drama, set to star Danny Glover. Michael Boatman (of ''Spin City'' and ''Arliss'') and Christopher Denham, a newcomer, round out the cast. Opening night is May 29 at the Booth.

*Graham Norton, the flamboyant British comic whose talk show ''So Graham Norton'' is a nice mix of snide and sycophantic, will take his act to the East 13th Street Theater, 126 East 13th Street, in the East Village, in late April for two weeks.

Correction: April 5, 2003, Saturday A report in the On Stage and Off column on March 21 about plans to present ''The Threepenny Opera'' at the Williamstown Theater Festival in Massachusetts misstated the name of a character. She is Jenny Diver, not Pirate Jenny.